Price-subsidized foods mark up

HCMC – On Thursday enterprises joining HCMC’s price stabilization program will be able to increase prices of some meat products including pork, chicken, and duck by VND4,000-9,000 a kilo, said the city’s Finance Department.

Shoppers inspect meat at a Satra Foods store in HCMC. Today enterprises joining HCMC’s price stabilization program will be able to increase prices of some meat products including pork, chicken, and duck by VND4,000-9,000 a kilo - Photo: Minh Tam HCMC – On Thursday enterprises joining HCMC’s price stabilization program will be able to increase prices of some meat products including pork, chicken, and duck by VND4,000-9,000 a kilo, said the city’s Finance Department.

Pork prices will rise to VND84,000-89,000 a kilo and chicken VND45,000-63,000 per kilo while duck prices rise to VND64,000 a kilo. The enterprises will also add more pork products to the subsidy list.

The new prices are still 10% to 19% lower than market prices, which were defined by market surveys on May 20 and 25 and information of the city’s Statistics Office.

The department’s Nguyen Quoc Chien said higher prices of input materials were the cause of the meat price hikes. Input costs have increased by 17% to 25% compared to the beginning of the program, he said.

The enterprises earlier suggested increasing goods prices but the department did not approve. “The department will follow up on market prices to help enterprises revise prices in the future. Applications for price adjustment will be approved within three days,” Chien confirmed in a meeting on Wednesday.

Chau Nhat Trung, director of Huynh Gia Huynh De Co. Ltd., told the Daily on the sidelines of the meeting that enterprises face pressure to balance the benefits between farmers and consumers. “We are capable of keeping prices 10% lower than market prices, but it is hard to lower prices any more,” Trung said.

The department last week asked enterprises to cut prices of sugar, cooking oil and eggs by VND500-1,700 given cheaper prices on the market.

Unlike in previous years, the city is allowing flexible price adjustments during this year’s price stabilization program if production costs and input material prices rise 15% or market prices drop by 5%.